Officials question Indian movie star at Newark airport

Emily Wax

NEW DELHI — One of India's biggest movie stars said he was pulled aside for questioning at Newark Liberty International Airport early yesterday, causing outrage across his home country and reigniting discussion of the hardships many Indians say they face while traveling abroad.

Shah Rukh Khan, 43, known as the King of Bollywood, was on his way to Chicago for a parade yesterday to mark India's Independence Day.

“I was really hassled — perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn't let me through,” Khan said in a text message to reporters in India.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Elmer Camacho said Khan was questioned as part of the agency's routine process to screen foreign travelers. Camacho said the process took 66 minutes.

“He was not detained,” Camacho said. “His documents and papers were checked, which were found to be in correct order, but it took a little longer because his bag was lost by the airline.”

Khan recently finished a shoot in the United States for his upcoming film, “My Name Is Khan,” which happens to be about a Muslim's harrowing experience with racial profiling. Khan, who is Muslim, told reporters that in real life he “felt angry and humiliated.”

The incident followed a recent example of an Indian coming under suspicion for what Indian talk show pundits call “flying while brown.” Last month, Continental Airlines apologized to former Indian President Abdul Kalam for frisking him at the New Delhi airport.

News the incident broke on a day of national pride, marked by parades and family picnics. News channels aired nonstop coverage of Khan's reported troubles, along with reactions from Bollywood A-listers, civil rights officials and security experts, some of whom defended the reported questioning in a post-Sept. 11 world.

U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer released a statement yesterday saying the U.S. government was “trying to ascertain the facts of the case — to understand what took place.” Roemer said Khan “is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films.”

At least one person in New Delhi saw a silver lining to the dispute.

Meghnad Desai, an Indian-born economist, member of Britain's House of Lords and author of books on Indian cinema and globalization, said the incident seemed like a publicity stunt for Khan's new film.

“The U.S. government was an inadvertent accomplice to 20th Century Fox, which is investing millions in this movie,” Desai said, chuckling, referring to a joint venture between Hollywood and Bollywood to distribute the film.